The inspection was announced and took place on 25 September 2017.

Guardian Angel Carers Ltd is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care and support to people in their own homes in Chichester and the surrounding areas. People who receive a service include those living with frailty or memory loss due to the progression of age, mobility needs and health conditions. At the time of this inspection the agency was providing personal care to 114 people.

Visits ranged from half an hour up to six hours. The frequency of visits ranged from one visit per week to four visits per day depending on people’s individual needs. The agency also provides live-in carers for people and overnight care.

During our inspection the provider and the registered manager were present. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The agency was previously inspected in May 2015 however a change in legal entity has resulted in this being the first inspection since then.

The agency had clear vision and values that were person-centred, fully embedded and owned by everyone. This ensured people were at the heart of the service. High quality care was integral to the agency and robust systems were in place to drive continuous improvement. There were a range of quality assurance audits and checks in place that helped ensure the agency ran smoothly. The agency had developed effective partnerships with other organisations to ensure they were following current practice and providing a high quality service. The provider, registered manager and members of the staff team were members of, or worked with, local and national organisations that provided support, guidance, and information about best practice. They attend workshops and meetings with these organisations in addition to receiving regular updates and information. We saw that publications from these organisations were shared with staff and service provision reviewed when needed to ensure continual improvement and best practice. Records and discussions with people and care workers confirmed that this was applied in practice and led to a consistently high service.

Being part of the community was intrinsic to the ethos and culture of the agency. The provider and the registered manager went out of their way to put people at the heart of the service. They constantly looked for ways of improving the service to benefit people they provided a service to. This also extended to older people in the wider community as the provider recognised that older people were at risk of isolation. The provider founded the ‘Golden Angels Lunch Club’ six years ago. The agency has donated Christmas gifts each year, and in January 2017 the agency became sponsors of the club. This is a lunch club for older people who live alone that takes place bi-monthly. The club provides a home cooked meal for a small cost and includes providing transport to and from the venue. It is run by volunteers that include the provider and people who work at agency.

There was a sustained and positive culture at the agency that was open, inclusive and empowering. All the care workers spoke very highly of the provider and the registered manager. The provider and registered manager were excellent role models who placed importance on developing each member of staff's potential and helping them develop a career path, offering promotion to suitable staff where possible. The provider also promoted a strong sense of teamwork, keeping care workers involved, and making sure they felt valued. This ethos won the agency best large business and best overall business 2017 at the Observer and Gazette Business Awards. This is a local newspaper that operates in the areas that